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Shane “Shakey” Byrne overcame the issues of the opening day at Oulton Park to fire in a lap under the lap record to claim his first pole position of the 2014 MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship season.

Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki’s Byrne broke the challenge of Aussie Josh Brookes at the Cheshire circuit with a stunning lap of the 2.69-mile circuit as he bids to add to his winning tally from the opening round at Brands Hatch in the races tomorrow (Bank Holiday Monday).

Byrne said: “I was pretty excited when that time popped up. We had done a 1m:34.9s on a used tyre, so I knew that I could make some improvements but that time is great. Now we have to make the right choice, depending on track temperatures, on tyres for the race but we have done our homework on them so hope we will make the right decision,” added Byrne.

Brookes who has been pushing him hard throughout the weekend on the Milwaukee Yamaha was 0.327s down on his rival, but vowed to fight back in the races. “We can do the times lap after lap so I have to accept second this time, but I tried really hard to get it back. Tomorrow and the races is what it is all about though so we will see what we can do then.”

James Ellison was third fastest to give the Lloyds British GBmoto Kawasaki team their first ever front row qualifying start. The team’s second rider Chris Walker, who had escaped unscathed in an earlier fireball crash in free practice, rewarded their efforts to re-build his bike by securing a third row start.

Stuart Easton on the second Rapid Solicitors Kawasaki, Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Dan Linfoot and Milwaukee Yamaha’s Tommy Bridewell start from the second row with former three times title winner Ryuichi Kiyonari on the Buildbase BMW and Richard Cooper aboard the Anvil Hire TAG Kawasaki on row three.

The Milwaukee Yamaha team will start from the front row for tomorrow’s second round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship with Josh Brookes narrowly missing out on the pole position in second place and Tommy Bridewell starting on row two.

Brookes had been pushing for the top of the times throughout the final free practice session and was determined for another strong qualifying performance. The Australian set his best lap of the weekend to claim second on the grid, narrowly edged out by Shane Byrne for the pole position. Tommy Bridewell proved he is ready to come out fighting for the races tomorrow after securing a second row start in sixth as he made big steps forward ahead of the next two races of the Championship. He set his best lap of the Cheshire circuit as he bids for his first podium finish of the season tomorrow.

Brookes said: “I had to accept second today but I tried really hard to try and get it back at the end. I did a whole heap of laps in the 1m:34s and so I suppose I am a little bit disappointed not to have pole, but at the same time I am happy to be on the front row. We have been consistent with our times and our race set up is heavily in our favour for tomorrow’s races, but all credit to Shakey. Tomorrow is more important to me so we will see what we can do then.”

Bridewell said: “Over the past two days we have made a huge amount of changes, perhaps more than we did at any point before, but we took a massive step forward in the right direction today. We are happy and feeling more confident now as we have made big progress. We lost one session yesterday but have some back today and I feel we are back on a level playing field now. The time I set in Q3 was my fastest ever lap here and I don’t see a reason why we can’t be in the fight with the leaders tomorrow.”

The Buildbase BMW Motorrad riders and team are eager to get the real racing action started this weekend at Oulton Park, following a challenging Qualifying session that saw Kiyonari earn seventh place and his team mate Westmoreland 16th for tomorrow’s first of two BSB races.

The BMW S 1000 RR riders had been in the top ten and better during Free Practice, with Japanese rider Kiyo fourth fastest at the end of FP3.

However after the dust settled following the three Qualifying sessions, only Kiyonari made it through to Q3, going on to secure a place on the third row. Just two seconds separate the top 17 riders.

Lee Jackson, riding the team’s BMW HP4 in the Pirelli National Superstock 1000 class, secured a top-ten qualifying position for tomorrow’s support race.

Stuart Hicken, Team Owner, said: “Not quite where we wanted to be, but Kiyo is in the top seven and his time is just 0.2 seconds off the top four. We’re moving in the right direction with him and he has proven he’s got race pace. Westy always has a challenging time qualifying at Oulton Park – but the race should be better for him.

“Lee was fast but got unlucky in Superstock 1000 qualifying, he got caught behind some slower riders and ran on too fast on the last lap. He’d have been right at the sharp end otherwise. So, we have a bit of hard work to do tomorrow, but the team are more than up to it and we’re all eager to enjoy some dry races.”

The second round of the 2014 MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship takes place at Oulton Park this Bank Holiday Monday (05 May). Tickets can be purchased on the gate and for more information visit www.oultonpark.co.uk or call 0843 453 9000.